Jesusween Vs. Halloween

Hands down Jesusween is scarier. Why? Because in the minds of those celebrating Halloween the holiday is a night of fun and entertainment all based in a world of fiction. The kids (and sometimes parents, myself included) go out dressed as superheroes, princesses, and ghouls, but at the end of the night they all return back to reality. As for Christians attempting to Christianize Halloween (i.e. Jesusween, Trunk-or-Treat, Hell House) the horrors of Hell and the Devil remain a reality in their minds the following morning. Don't get me wrong I'm not attempting to bash the theology of Hell ( Liberal theologians within Christianity already do that), believe in Hell if you want to but examine how your beliefs affect your relationship with your fellow man.



Via Onkneesforjesus

Do you really believe that broken, grief stricken people who turn to suicide and drugs actually belong in Hell, or is it the people who failed to reach out a helping hand to those in need? Why is it more popular for Christians to be so against homosexuality while at the same time so casual about poverty? Is not the greatest commandment within Christianity to love God and Man, not God or Man? If we, as human beings, are truly seeking to love our neighbor as we love ourselves we must learn to wrestle with the demons within us.

So instead of using Halloween to pass out Bibles and proselytize to young children how about saving your Bibles and Chick tracts for another day. Let's face it they're at your door for the candy and if you slip a Chick tract into their bag they'll just toss it out as another lame gift.

Beauty

Enjoy! The video says it much better than I ever could.



(via Unreasonable Faith)

Hell House 21- Aftermath

That's right it's that time of the year again. It's time to dust off your Bible and crosses and come on down to the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, TX for their 21st production of Hell House subtitled Aftermath.

And after watching their newest trailer you can tell they went all out again this year all to the tune of Jesus Loves the Little Children (sends chills down my spine every time I watch it). Shudder.



If you're new to the Hell House experience then, well, you must be living under a rock. Not only was there a documentary released a decade ago in 2001, directed by George Ratcliff entitled Hell House, but they are spreading like wildfire over the U.S. I'm not sure why these Christian haunted houses are so popular (especially in the South), maybe it's because the churches participating feel it's necessary to do anything to reel the youth back in to the fold. Maybe it's the reality factor of real life scenes (not ghouls and serial killers  with masks) that attracts such a large audience. My personal attraction to hell houses are watching the reactions and comments of my fellow attendees. Here's a listing of local Judgement Houses and if you're lucky (or unlucky depending on your view on the matter) you may have one in your local area. And if not don't lose hope, there's always next year.

What's a Judgement House you ask, and what's the difference between a Judgement and a Hell House? The Judgement House website claims the main difference is that they offer the audience a choice to accept Jesus. Those Hell House heathens just want to scare the bejesus into you. Luckily there's one about 10 minutes from my house and hopefully I can convince the Mrs. to go. If not it's not like I'm missing anything new, either way all Non-believers are going to H-E- double hockey sticks.

Life Beyond Christianity

My life beyond Christianity is not about giving any supreme being the finger or "enjoying" the sinful life. It's not about living a prideful life without the need of Big Daddy in the sky, or even a part of some Atheist/liberal/Evil anti-God agenda. My life beyond Christianity is not a life without meaning or sacredness, the core sacredness remains I've simply unchained the need for borders, labels, or tribal loyalties. At the heart of Christianity is (or at least should be) Love, love that transcends who we are and accepts us completely. The sacraments, rituals, and beliefs are just the language that attempts to translate that love into something tangible. I'm not seeking out to destroy the language but merely seeking THAT, the source beyond words.

If you were to ask a Christian (let's stick with Southern Baptist only because I know next to nothing about Eastern Orthodox Christianity) what God is, I mean really ask, they will inevitably end up telling you a story. Regardless if it's the Gospel story or their own testimony you will end up hearing a story. And why? Because there is power, beauty, and creation in words. Jesus is envisioned as The Word, as the source of all life, how can Christians not keep themselves from telling the Good News. But in the end the story points back towards That, the source beyond words! The story and the language are just vehicles and modes of expressions expressing a shared experience. It is that sense of community, the sense of connection with one another which is truly sacred. My personal choice to move beyond Christianity wasn't because the faith was lacking a sense of community but that I wanted to connect with a much larger community.This was as much of a personal choice as the personal choice of someone choosing to accept Christianity. The stories in the Bible don't have to be factually true to contain Truth, however, the Bible was written in a different time and place and many ideas, beliefs, taboos, etc. are no longer relatable or even morally acceptable. We've evolved (mostly) beyond slavery, treating women like property, and believing that the gods are the cause of natural disasters, so why can't we move beyond the need for our stories, our myths, to be factually true for them to hold any meaning or any values?

While I personally believe it's pretty messed up to turn to an outdated text for morality and daily guidance I understand why people do it: life is uncertain and people turn to something, anything which may anchor us through the chaos. But I find no peace or feel any transcendent love while reading Scripture (any scripture), just an interesting collection of stories. When I chose to leave Christianity I wasn't leaving behind Love, I was leaving the restraints which were keeping me from Love. This doesn't mean that Christianity is a monstrous, archaic evil organization filled with fearful angry bigoted people. Christianity can and is as beautiful and loving as the community of people which call themselves Christians. The beliefs and rituals don't speak to me, they don't help me to let things go, to move on, and to love my fellow man. It may work for others, and it worked for me for a time but not anymore. I know that may sound smug as if I were saying I'm too good for Christianity, and I apologize if that's the impression some may get. I see religion as language, it attempts to express something worth expressing but is limited by the words and symbols it uses. To me life beyond Christianity is an attempt to go beyond language to reach that something it tries to express. Or at the very least learn something about my own struggle, my own humanity, while attempting to reach THAT. The struggle, the journey, the experience itself is what I consider sacred, and the choice of leaving behind the Christian faith was my choice alone (not the Devil "tempting" me, nor the secular media "seducing" me into a life of Reason, etc.). I just want to express Love in other languages, or even using no language at all. We all know love when we see it, so can't we learn to let go of the words and experience it for a change? Is it really so evil/bad/sinful that I want to be more loving and understanding of my fellow man than I was yesterday?

B.F.F. T-Shirt Reprint

I've been waiting for this t-shirt to reprint for about a year. I completely forgot about it until I got an email yesterday about their recent reprint. This picture tickles me every time mainly because I'll never see this happen in real life, well at least in my lifetime. Order your t-shirt today so that we can be B.F.F. for life!